


Deep Waters

by theskywasblue



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Dysfunctional Family, F/M, Longing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-09
Updated: 2010-06-09
Packaged: 2017-10-10 00:31:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/93298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theskywasblue/pseuds/theskywasblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zuko is sure he will never rise for air again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Deep Waters

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt "Drown" - Word limit 300.

Zuko remembers falling, the cold bite of the ocean, the sting of salt water in his eyes and nose, and Azula gazing down at him from the edge of the dock with something too dark to be joy but too bright to be panic or regret in her eyes as he sank.

 

He remembers waking up with his chin on his uncle's shoulder, gasping like a landed fish as Iroh patted his back and murmured, "It's alright Prince Zuko – there now, breathe – you're alright."

 

Looking down at the water behind his uncle's back, at the endless stretch of the ocean, Zuko felt an awful rush of terror, an absolute certainty that he could never really rise for air again.

 

"The water does not mean to pull you under," his uncle tried to explain later, when the salt water had crusted in Zuko's hair and left it's sharp, almost metallic smell all over his skin, "that is just its nature."

 

When Zuko looks at Katara across the campfire, or the courtyard, or whatever obstacle they have purposely placed between one another to keep the distance they've agreed upon, he can see the surface of the ocean looking out at him from the depths of her blue eyes; his chest tightens, he feels himself sinking, and he knows that before too long, he will drown.

-End-


End file.
